


Something Completely Independent

by chronicAngel



Series: Leaves in the Summer [35]
Category: Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, Naruto
Genre: Children, F/M, Genetic Engineering, POV Third Person, Post-Fourth Shinobi War, The Legendary Sannin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-12
Updated: 2018-01-12
Packaged: 2019-03-03 19:30:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,398
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13347975
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chronicAngel/pseuds/chronicAngel
Summary: "I think we're a little bit old for that by now, aren't we?"





	Something Completely Independent

She's reluctant to agree to a meeting with him. They haven't "hung out" since Jiraiya said his goodbyes to the Leaf Village at the Battle of Amegakure during the Second Shinobi World War, and haven't "hung out" without him as a mediator since they were sleeping together in their twenties. Since then, she's been the Hokage and subsequently passed the title onto someone who somehow wanted it even less than she did, and he's tried to destroy the very village she was in charge of for years. They've settled into an alliance of sorts now, but Tsunade is still wary around him.

Still, when he requests her presence, it piques her curiosity, and she arrives at the designated meeting place with a pack full of kunai at her hip. She does not dismiss Tenzō.

"As prepared as ever, aren't we?" He says, voice lilting, and she whips around as she realizes it's coming from directly behind her. Her face is only inches from his, and she refuses to admit that it makes her heart speed up like they're brand new jōnin all over again.

She waves to Tenzō, who tenses in the distance, though he doesn't seem to relax at all. Orochimaru gives an acknowledging glance over his shoulder, dismissive as ever, and then stares right into her eyes as though he expects an answer to a question he hasn't asked her yet. As has always been the case with the two of them, she cracks first. "Well? What do you want? Why are you asking after me?"

He looks hurt. "Can't I check on an old friend?" The look she gives him is of pure skepticism, and with a sigh like this goes completely against his plans, he looks at his fingernails, which he clearly finds to be the most interesting thing about this interaction. It makes her bristle with a childish anger that she forces to the pit of her stomach.

"You're right," he says, and she feels the same childish glee that she did when they were first assigned to a squad together at hearing the words from him, not that she would ever admit it. "I want something."

"Oh, great. How thrilling. Orochimaru wants something. You know, we aren't kids anymore, you can't just expect--"

"I want a child." He cuts her off, and he says it like it's the most casual announcement in the world.

Her brain short circuits. She runs her eyes over him in a similar fashion to when she used to check him out, and she imagines he notices it just as easily and finds it just as amusing as he did then, his lips quirking in a small and particularly characteristic smile. It reminds her of days spent lazing about her apartment or being dragged out to  gatherings by Jiraiya, who always cared much more about socializing than either of them, which often left them to get drunk and hang out with each other until he crawled out of the bar with some new face every time. Her immediate instinct is to bark out a laugh. She doesn't. Instead, she coughs, "So, what, you wanted to ask for my permission?"

He laughs, but there's very little actual amusement in it. She's not sure she's ever seen Orochimaru use sarcasm before so much as petty teasing, and she's even less sure that she likes it on him. This is definitely a dry, sarcastic laugh, which falls too flat to feign sincerity. "Tsunade," he starts, and she can already tell she's not going to like whatever follows. "Don't act like you're dumber than you are. I want you to be the mother." If his previous statement caused her to short circuit, this causes her entire system to crash. Imagining Orochimaru-- who, unlike most boys that pulled pig tails and tried to look up girls' skirts at the age of six, studied kinjutsu and read up about cadavers-- with a child is vaguely horrifying. Imagining having a child _with_ Orochimaru is somehow worse.

"I think we're a little bit old for that by now, aren't we?" She says dryly, if only because it is more polite than what she's really thinking. He stays quiet for a long minute, as though he doesn't understand her skepticism, and she's worried for a long minute that he actually doesn't. Eventually, she clarifies, "We're almost 60, Orochimaru! You can't seriously be thinking..." She trails off, gesturing vaguely in the air in front of her as though that might explain her point.

Miraculously, he seems to get it. His eyes go wide and he holds a hand to his chest in what she is pretty sure is mock horror, but knowing him and the odd things that seem to disturb him, could very realistically be actual horror. "Tsunade, I would never propose...!" He actually seems flustered. She hates that it's cute. "I'm asking for a genetic sample."

She blinks at him. "A genetic sample," she repeats, as though she might not have heard him properly. He nods, and offers her that smile that she has grown to associate with a fake and generally annoyed politeness. It's a smile he reserves for people who he thinks are being particularly stupid, something that she learned during their brief relationship (which was not as brief as she likes to pretend it was). She has mostly seen him wear it in relation to girls at the Academy and subsequently the genin girls who went to Academy with them and were enamored by the pretty boy who graduated in only a year, one of the first and last to do so until Hatake Kakashi. "Why me?"

He gives her a similar look, but it looks more like he's genuinely startled by this. As though his reasoning for picking her should be obvious. "You're the strongest woman in the world, and the only person left alive on the planet who I'm confident could beat me in a fight. As loathe as I am to admit it, you're the only person left in the world who might be considered my equal. I would have no less be the mother of my child." His tone is surprisingly sharp, as though this is supposed to be a cutting insult and not an uplifting compliment, but everything else about him screams her praise. She wonders if he isn't just trying to appeal to her. Another part of her wonders if he isn't just used to speaking this way. The thought is shockingly sad, so she shoves it away and squints at him in suspicion. She's not sure what's stranger: Hearing such a relatively huge compliment from Orochimaru, or how decidedly un-strange the whole situation is starting to feel to her.

As though he can sense that she's starting to weaken in her resolve, he smiles at her apologetically, "I'd always imagined a future where I secured a position as Hokage and you and I inevitably got married. You always reminded me--"

"That no one would put up with a freak like you forever," she laughs, despite how mean-spirited she knows it was and still is. "You have to admit that it's true. You go through minions faster than... I dunno, think of an over the top 'super villain' and you go through minions faster than them." He laughs good-naturedly, and she thinks she even detects a bit of genuine humor in it. She's gotten good at detecting these things. "Why do you need anyone else's DNA, though? Can't you just--"

"Make a clone?" She nods, and he sighs wistfully. "There was something that used to be so appealing about that idea. The experimentation required, the idea of a perfect vessel that could be prepared at any moment, just based off of my DNA..." She tries to ignore how far-off his eyes have become. In an instant, though, he's grounded again. "I've come to a realization." She repeats the phrase, watching him with furrowed brows. "Yes, a realization. That's not what children are. Ultimately, you can make a clone with a simple jutsu. There's nothing original about it. Creating life... To create something that can be completely independent should it choose... That is something to work for."

Her eyes dart over him for a moment. "You really want this." It's not quite a question, but not quite a statement either. She hesitates for a moment, and then, "Okay."


End file.
